by Maddan Reese Eisenberg

CHAPTER 1

It all started outside Maddan’s house with Jake, Ava, and Maddan (aka J.A.M.). They went to get some ice cream at the Grom at 76th street and Broadway. Then they saw something strange. They saw a sign outside Grom that said, “Taerg erusaert. Reveohw sdinf ti tsrif steg ot peek ti.” They wondered what it meant.

“Hmm,” they thought.

Just then, Jake had an idea. “Maybe if we flip the words around…”

“Why didn’t we think of that?!” Maddan said.

“That was your first good idea, Jake!” Ava said.

“No,” Maddan said, “His first was when, um, uh… Congratulations!”

Ava said, “So, if we turn the words around, it would say, ‘Great treasure. Whoever finds it first gets to keep it.’” They saw a tiny map next to the words. They picked it up, and it showed them to go near Central Park, where a little wall was.

“Whoa,” they all said. “Let’s go and hunt for it.”

They left the ice cream store and set out on their journey. F.Y.I., they forgot their ice cream. They were halfway there when they found a huge wall. It was a million stories high and never ending.

“That’s sure not little!” Maddan yelled.

“Yikes,” they all said. They all tried to take out one brick. Once they pulled it out, broken wires hung from it. They found it was all mechanical.  By the way, Maddan was great at mechanics.

He touched the wall and found one piece of the wall could get pushed down. He said, “There should be a trap door right—” and he jumped twice. A door (it was on the ground) appeared next to them. “—here.” he finished. As they went in, they did not see a deep hole near them where someone had dug five days ago.

CHAPTER 2

Meanwhile, someone named Joe, (I picked the scariest name I could think of) was captured by Someone. (If you wonder why Someone is capitalized, it’s because Someone is his name). Joe was captured by Someone because Someone is the guardian of the treasure.

“Get me out,” Joe yelled.  No one responded. He saw that three people had come out of a trap door on the ground. He yelled, “Help!” Finally, they saw him. They went over. They just missed a rope trying to catch them. They ran over to the cage. Joe had short brown hair, brown eyes, and a black T-shirt with jeans. He also had a huge black backpack.

They said, “Who are y—”

He said, “I am Joe.”

They said, “No, we mean who are you and why are you here?”

“Someone captured me!”

They said, “Who is this someone?”

“No,” he said. “That is his name!”

“What?” Just then a siren blew.

“Someone’s coming!” said Joe.  “Quick, get the key!”

“Okay,” they said. “Where are the keys?”

“Over there,” he pointed near the wall. A nail with a key was on the wall. A trap door was right next to it, on the floor. It was very small, too. “Look out for that trap door, there’s a spear inside there,” Joe said.

“We will,” they said.

“Go get it!” They ran and got the keys.

“Got it!”

They unlocked the cage just as Someone came. He had long, blond, greasy hair.

“Impossible,” Someone said as Jake, Ava, Maddan and Joe ran right past him. “Get them,” Someone shouted to himself, forgetting he was alone.

Eventually, J.A.M. and Joe outran Someone. They heard the sound of a helicopter. They realised it came from behind the wall that was a little lower than the other parts of the wall.

CHAPTER 3

“WE MADE IT!” Michael yelled.

“We know,” Sam said. Michael, the dumb one, was in the helicopter with Sam, the bored one, who was driving the helicopter.

“It’s time for you to land,” a dark voice said. The voice came out of a speaker. The dark voice was not known. He didn’t tell anyone his name, or his favorite game, or his real voice or what he looked like.

“Yaaay!” Michael yelled. Sam put the helicopter on automatic. As Michael and Sam got their jet packs, which were red and orange, they heard a battle cry.

“What is that?” Sam said in a dark voice, but not as dark as the dark voice.

“I have no idea!” Michael said, happily.

“GO!” the dark voice yelled. “If you don’t want anyone spotting you. If they do, boom!”

They realized the dark voice was tired. They jumped. They felt the wind rushing around their bodies. All they heard was wind.

“WEEE!” Michael yelled.

CHAPTER 4

“What took you so long?” Maddan said. “You ran toward Someone and you turned a corner.”

“I called my mom,” Joe lied.

“Oh,” Maddan said.

“Let’s go and get the treasure,” Joe said. They all agreed.

They started walking west. They kept walking until they heard the helicopter again.

“Why do they keep on following us?!” Joe asked.

“Don’t know, don’t care,” Ava said.

“Let’s go!” Jake yelled. So they kept running.

Later that day, they ate dinner from Joe’s bag. They ate yummy pasta and meatballs, and

for dessert they all had a cupcake.

“Mmmm,” everyone said. They started sleeping. Joe crept out of his sleeping bag, and turned on his phone.

CHAPTER 5

Michael and Sam landed safely.

“That was fun!” Michael yelled.

“Yeah,” Sam said.

Just then, their phone rang.

The dark voice said, “Go north, past the cage, without the rope catching you. And look out for that trapdoor.”

“Okay, boss,” Sam said darkly, but again, not as dark as the dark voice. They hung up.

“Time to go!” Michael said.

“We know,” said Sam. “Come on.”

They went off. They went past the cage, just missed the rope and the trapdoor, and their cell phone rang again.

“Are you there?” asked the dark voice.

“Yep!” Michael said.

“Now, continue going north and then turn west at the next corner.”

“Okay, boss!” said Michael.

“Let’s go,” Sam said. So they went.

They turned the corner and saw four people. They were sleeping. Michael and Sam sneaked right past them holding their breath and tip-toeing.

“Yay!” Michael said, happily. “We made it past!”

“Again, we know!” Sam said.

“Okay!”

They went on until the four kids were out of sight. Again, the phone rang.

“Are you past those four kids?” the dark voice asked.

“How do you know about that!?” Michael asked, happily. There was a pause.

“I already passed them,” the dark voice replied. “Now, keep on going west and you’ll see the helicopter that was on autopilot.”

“OK!” Michael said. They hung up again, and walked what would have been two blocks and saw the helicopter.

“Let’s go!” (You’ll never guess who said that. You’re right! It was Michael. Surprise, surprise.)

They went into the helicopter.

CHAPTER 6

J.A.M. and Joe woke up to sunshine.

“Ughhh,” they all said.

“Let’s go on,” Joe said. So they went on. A mile away, they could see a little glimpse of gold.

“That looks like the treasure!” Jake said.

They were halfway there when they all felt even more tired than ever before.

“Whew!” Joe said. “I’m tired! My legs feel like jelly.”

“We know, all of our feet feel like jelly,” Ava said.

Jake said, “All in favor of sleeping, say whew! Everyone who doesn’t want to, say no.”

“No!” Ava yelled.

“WHEW!!!” everyone else yelled.

“I guess sleeping wins,” Joe said. They all laid down on their sleeping bags.

They rested for about ten seconds before Ava yelled, “WAKE UP!”

“Whaaat,” they all said.

“It’s time to go. We’ve been napping for long enough.”

Joe looked at his watch. “We slept for about ten seconds,” he said.

“Really?” Ava asked. “That’s ten seconds too much! Let’s go!”

“Pffft,” everyone said. Except, of course, Ava.

They all went toward the gold. Their legs still felt like jelly, but whenever they argued, Ava picked them up and threw them on the ground. Of course, they got injured, but Ava didn’t mind.

They ran until Ava also felt tired.

She said, “I’m tired.”

Jake, Maddan, and Joe said, “All of in favor of Ava sleeping, say yes. All in favor of her not sleeping, say no.”

“Yes!” Ava said.

“No!” everyone else said.

Ava made them. They rested for five seconds, and Maddan went up and screamed in Ava’s ear, “GET UP!”

She jumped. “What was that for?”

“Oh, nothing, we just slept for five seconds, and I thought that was five seconds too much,” said Maddan.

But after two more seconds, they all agreed to sleep. They ate lunch right before sleeping. It was PB&J, with potato chips on the side. They played a game where they all said something that they disliked.

Joe said, “I dislike that my mom died.”

Maddan said, “I thought you said you called your mom before.”

Joe said, “Um… she died one day ago, while we were sleeping.”

Jake said, “How would you know?”

“She called me right before she died,” Joe lied again.

They all felt sorry for Joe. They had a moment of silence.

“Oh,” Ava said. “My turn.”

They went on with that game for five minutes. Then, they all fell asleep.

Joe woke up and turned on the phone.

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